Pneumatic thread holder for weft replenishing looms



April 25, 1950 R. G. TURNER 2,505,443

PNEUMATIC THREAD HOLDER FOR WEFT REPLENISHING LOOMS Filed Nov. 8, 1947 'II n I INVENTOR RICHARD 6. TURNER 4 QAMRM ATTORNEY Y Thisis a continuation application Serial'No. 702,197 filed October 9, 1946, now Patent No. 2, 46f),611,' issued February 1,

P This [replenishing looms and it is the general object Patented Apr. 25, 1 950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PNEUMATIC THREAD HOLDER FOR WEFT REPLENISHING LOOMS Richard G. Turner, Worcester, Mass, assignor to Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, Worcester, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts in part of my co pending' invention relates to improvements in weft iof the invention to provide improved pneumatic thread holder means adapted for use with a variety of types of weft.

Weft replenishing looms ordinarily operate with a magazine containing reserve bobbins from in the'accumulator into a mass of entangled,

threads which serves as an anchorage for the weft end of a freshly transferred bobbin.

Some types of weft, such as artificial yarns, are

smooth and do not mat together to any considerable extent. It is desirable to provide means to hold such yarns in the accumulator to prevent them from being drawn back through the thread holder. Other types of yarns are coarse and hairy and mattogetherclosely enough to serve as anchorages for each other. Such yarns, however, operatebest when they are free to hang .from the holder into the accumulator without interference bythe supplementary holding means. A pneumatic thread control system should be able to take care of both types of weft and it is animportant'object of the present invention to provide hoiding means, such as fingers or prongs,

preferably located intermediate the thread holder g and the thread accumulator and mova ble to either of two positions, one vfor engagement with fines'rnoothyarns and the other for non-engage- "ment with coarse yarns.

. In the form of the invention illustratedhereinafter the thread collector or accumulator comprises a relatively, large hollow cylindrical member on the top of which is'mounted a casting having the hollow'jthi'e'ad holder formed as part thereof and having also a floor provided with an opening which affords pneumatic communication betweenthe thread holder and: the accumulator. It is a further object of the invention to Application November 8, 1947, Serial N 0. 784,791

7 Claims. (01. 139-247) mount the aforesaid prongs or fingers on the under side of the floor of the casting so that it can be swung either to holding or non-holding position. Since it is desirable that the shift of the fingers be accomplished without disturbing the pneumatic system it is still another object of the invention to have them controllable from a point outside the thread holder and accumulator.

With these and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, my invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein a convenient embodiment of my invention is set forth,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a loom showing a pneumatic thread control system having my invention applied thereto,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged front elevation looking in the direction of arrow 2, Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a plan view looking in the direction of arrow 3, Fig. 2, with the cover of the thread holder removed,

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on line 4--4 of Fig. 3 showing the thread holder and upper part of the thread accumulator with the aforesaid prongs indicated in weft end holding position in full lines and in non-holding position in dotted lines, and

Fig. 5 is a vertical section on line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, the loom frame i 0 supports a crank shaft H which drives the lay [2 back and forth in usual manner. A driving rod extends rearwardly from the lay and is connected to an upright lever I6 which operates the piston H of a stationary air pump I8 from the forward end of which extends a pipe or hose :9. The loom supports a reserve bobbin magazine M containing stacks of reserve bobbins B from which extend weft ends that may be either coarse hairy yarnsor fine smooth yarns. In Fig. 1 the'yarns are indicated as being fineand are designated at FW. These ends extend to a. thread holder H which is supported on an upright support 20.

As shown more particularly in Figs. '2' and 3, the holder comprises a floor plate 25 formed integral with vertical front and back walls 26 and 21 and right and left hand walls 28 and 29, respectively, as viewed in'Fig. 3. A cover 30 preferably of transparent material is hinged to one of the walls so that it can be swung upwardly to permit weft ends to pass thereunder and enter a hollow thread compartment TC between the walls and above the floor. Wall 29 is provided with a recess 32 under the cover which with the latter defines an intake mouth 53 for the weft ends. The opposite wall 28 may be provided with a similar but shorter recess 36 through which the outer ends of the weft threads pass when they are first placed in the holder. The floor 25 has an opening 35 therein through which weft ends can extend downwardly from the holder.

A thread accumulator or collector C comprises a cylinder 38 preferably of thin transparent material to provide a relatively large. inclosure or hollow space for the weft ends below the thread holder. If desired the cylinder may be equipped with a door D to afford manual access to the interior of the cylinder 36. The bottom of the cyl inder (it is Closed by a bottom plate 3'! which is suspended from fioor 25 by rods 38 and supports a porous tube 39 pneumatically communicating with the interior of a fitting it] connected to hose v l9.

In the operation of the matter thus far de scribed the pump will create subatmospheric pressures within the cylinder 35 during back ward strokes of the lay and because of the pneu 'matic communication between the interior of cylinder 35 and the thread compartment TC forded by opening 35 air will be drawn into the intake mouth 33 and also through mouth 3%. When weft ends extend into the intake mouth and across the compartment TC, downward pneumatic pressure will draw them through the opening or passage 35 and they will hang into the cylinder 36. The threads are generally entangled to some extent, although coarse hairy yarns are. more subject to entanglement than are the finer smooth yarns.

The matter thus far described may be substantially the same as that shown in the copending application referred to except that the floor 25 of the holder and the walls of the compartment TC .are somewhat different from similar parts shown in that application.

In carrying the present invention into effect I provide one or more thread holding fingers or prongs .59 which may be struck integrally from a sheet metal plate 55 and bent downwardly as indicated .in Fig. .4. The plate BI is under fioor 25 and may have seemed thereto a threaded screw 52 formed with a screwdriver slot 53 and passing upwardly through a clear hole at in the floor. The screw '52 is provided with a wing nut 55 above the floor by which the plate 5% can be .drawn tightly up against the under side of the fioor. The wing nut 55 is accessible from the accumulator C and by means of a screwdriver the plate 5% may be swung to two angular positions. Lugs at and ii? depending from floor '25 determine the thread holding and non-holoh ing positions of fingers when the 100m 15 Operating with fine yarns as shown in Figs. 1 and e the fingers will bein their active yarn engaging holding position shown in full lines in Fig. When the loom is operating with coarse hairy yarn the fingers :Will beswung o their inactivenon-holding posi 'tion showndotted lines in Fig. d where they will .notengage the coarse wefts.

will .be heidin either of their positions bythe wingnut and adjustment from one-position to .the .other .can be made readily because the .screwdriverslottt and withoutopening the p matic system.

.From .the foregoing it will be seenthat I have provided a simplemeans by which apneumatic thread holder and thread accumulator may be adapted for use with both fine and coarse wefts. lhis means comprises a series of fingers which can be projected into the path of fine wefts as they enter cylinder 36 from opening 35, or can be moved to inactive position when coarse Weft is being woven. In eitherposition the fingers are I held stationary with respect tothe thread hold er, and the wing nut shown as a convenient means to clamp or hold the setting of the fingers is accessible from outside the holder H and accumulatorC.

Having thus described my invention it will be seen that changesand modifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, but what I claim is:

1. In pneumatic thread control means for the weft ends of a weft replenishing loom, a pneumatic thread holder having an intake mouth for the weft ends and having hollow means communicating pneumatically with said mouth and having a floor in which a thread receiving opening is formed, a hollow thread accumulator in which subatmospheric pressures exist depending from the hollow means communicating pneumatically with the interior of said hollow means through said opening, and thread engaging prongs extending downwardly from said floor adjacent to the edge of said opening to engage the weft ends leading from said mouth through the opening into said. accumulator.

2. In pneumatic thread control means for the weft ends of a weft replenishing loom, a hollow thread accumulator in which subatmospheric pressures exist, a hollow pneumatic thread holder for the weft ends having an opening therein pneumatically connecting the interior of the thread holder and the interior of the accumulator, movable thread engaging means adjacent to the opening, and means capable of holding said thread engaging means either adjacent to the opening'in position to engage fine weft ends passing through the opening or spaced from the opening in a position to be incapable of engaging coarse weft ends passing through the opening.

3. In pneumatic thread control means for the weft ends of a weft replenishing loom, a hollow thread accumulator in which subatmospheric pressures exist, a hollow thread holder-for the weft ends, the interior of the holder and the accumulator being in pneumatic communication through a thread passage for the weft ends between the holder and accumulator, thread engaging means for the weft ends, and means capable of holding the thread engaging means adjacent to said passage when fine weft ends are in said passage or spaced from said-passage when coarse weft ends are in said passage.

4. In a pneumatic thread control system for the weft ends of a weft replenishing loom, a hollow thread accumulator which 'subatmospheric ssu s ex h eadhqld nme n p m d w .3 h l re d som rtm n h i lT of which is in pneumatic communication with the interior of the accumulator througha passage for th e d in e thr bq de m a s fin means f enga n t Weft n vm lv mounted on the thread holdermeans, andclamping means for said finger means capable of holding the latter either in onepo s ition to engage weft ends of one type thepassageor in another position to be incapable of engaging weft ends of a diiferenttype in the passage.

5. In a pneumatic thread control system for the weft ends of a weft replenishng loom, a pneumatic thread accumulator in which subatmospheric pressures exist, a hollow thread holder having an opening therein pneumatically connecting the interior of the holder and accumulator and through which the weft ends pass from the holder to the accumulator, finger means pivotally mounted with respect to the thread holder and capable of occupying one position for engagement of weft ends of one type extending through the opening and capable of occupying a second position in which the finger means is incapable of engaging weft ends of a different type extending through the opening, and means to clamp the finger means in either of said positions thereof.

6. In a pneumatic thread control system for the weft ends of a Weft replenishing loom, a pneumatic thread accumulator in which subatmospheric pressures exist, a hollow thread holder for weft ends having an opening therein pneumatically connecting the interior of the holder and accumulator and through which weft ends pass from the holder to the accumulator, finger means pivotally mounted on the thread holder and capable of being either adjacent to the opening or spaced therefrom, and clamp means accessible from the outside of the holder and accumu lator to clamp said finger means in either of said positions thereof.

7. In pneumatic thread control means for the weft ends of reserve bobbins in a weft replenishing loom, a hollow thread accumulator in which subatmospheric pressures exist and into which the weft ends extend, and finger means projecting into said accumulator in the direction in which the weft ends extend into the accumulator and engaging the weft ends and preventing the latter from being drawn out of the accumulator in a direction toward the reserve bobbins.

RICHARD G. TURNER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,326,905 Turner Aug. 1'7, 1943 2,390,014. Turner Nov. 27, 1945 2,396,354 Wakefield Mar. 12, 1946 

